From the archive, 7 October 1981: President Sadat assassinated at army parade

Egyptian leaders last night declared a state of emergency after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat at a military parade. As the news of Sadat's death reached an apprehensive world Vice-President Hosni Mubarak, the man most likely to follow Mr Sadat in power, announced on television that the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament would take over formally as President until a successor is chosen.

Last night Mr Mubarak pledged a continuity of the peace policies of his predecessor and said that he had assumed the position of commander in chief of the armed forces. The Vice-President announced a 40-day period of mourning and said that the state funeral would take place on Saturday.

In Algeria, exiled Lt-Gen Saadeddin Shazli, once Sadat's chief of staff, called on the Egyptian armed forces to follow up the assassination by wresting power from leaders committed to "Zionism and imperialism". General Shazli's opposition movement, the National Front, appears to have been behind the murder of Sadat. But in Cairo, troops loyal to the Government and to Mubarak took over key buildings, and there were no signs that any serious effort at a coup was under way.

Sadat's Arab enemies last night celebrated his death. In Beirut motorists sounded their horns in jubilation. In Damascus there was dancing in the streets. President Sadat was shot down at a parade marking the anniversary of Egyptian successes in the 1973 Yom Kippur war — the closest any Arab state has come to victory over Israel and the essential foundation for his later policy of peace with Israel.

Dressed in one of the elaborate uniforms, Sadat and other ministers were watching a fly-past when dissident soldiers – or men dressed as soldiers – opened fire from a truck passing the reviewing stand. Grenades and Kalashnikov fire raked the benches, killing two of Sadat's aides, mortally wounding Sadat and injuring many others. The 63-year-old president was rushed by helicopter to hospital but died on the operating table.

The Egyptian leadership closed ranks yesterday after the death of the man who had dominated their country after his takeover from President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970, and whose skill in alternating repression with reconciliation had kept it relatively stable. It was unclear whether his assassination was a direct result of the measures he recently took against opposition groups, including the fundamentalist Muslim movement. But there were few signs that the assassination was part of an organised coup attempt.

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